A "vengeful attitude" and the belief that peaceful means would not secure the release of jailed Anand Margi head - Anand Murti- resulted in the attempt to assasinate the then Chief Justice of India A N Ray, the Delhi High Court today observed.
The convicts Santosh Anand Avdhoot and Sudevanand Avdhoot believed that their head could not come out of jail due to rejection of the bail applications by the bench headed by CJI in the Supreme Court.
"Evidence has come on record that Santosh Anand developed the belief that so long as A N Ray (CJI) was the head of the judiciary, peaceful and legal means would not secure release of Anand Murti and that armed revolution was the only way to get him released.
"He developed a vengeful attitude towards the CJI. This prejudice and hatred impelled him to take the extreme step. Apparently, the target of the dastardly intrigue was CJI," the court said.
Earlier in the day, the High Court upheld the conviction of two Anandmargis Santosh and Sudevanand and 10-year jail term given to them for attempting to assassinate A N Ray near the Supreme Court in 1975.
The High Court, however, gave the benefit of doubt and set free third convict Ranjan Dwivedi, a lawyer, of the charge of conspiring with Santosh and Sudevanand to bomb the car of the then CJI on the evening of March 20, 1975.
The convicts, who remained in jail for eleven years from 1975 to 1986 when they got bail, have been awarded ten years rigorous jail term under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.
